Henry clinton



(No Model.)

H. C. HICKS.

DOOR POR STOCK 0R FREIGHT GARS.

Patented Ang. l1, 1885.

wi 14mg A N. PETERS, Phutu-Lhhognphen WlxhingQols n4 UNITED STATES PATENT v OFFICE.

HENRY CLINTON HICKS, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN LIVE STOCK EXPRESS COMPANY, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

DOOR FOR STOCK OR FREIGHT CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 324,255, dated August 11, 1885.

Application filed May 12` 1885*. (No model.) l

T0 all whom, it may concern:

Beit known that I, HENRY CLINTON Hicks, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Doors for Stock and Freight Cars, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the doors of stock and freight cars; and it consists in fitting the doors into the openings or doorways so that their outer surfaces do not project beyond the general surface of the car, and means whereby the door' may be moved bodily outward and upward before it is moved sidewise to open it, as hereinafter shown and described.

This door may be applied to nearly all forms of stock and freight cars, but is more particularly applicable to the form of stock-car shown in my Patent No. 288,335, dated November 13, 1883.

To illustrate the application of this invention I have shown it in the drawings applied to the frame-work of a car adapted to the system of stall-bars, feed-racks,wateringtroughs, Ste., as shown in my patent above referred to, in which- Figure l is a cross-sectional View of a stockcar through the doors. Fig. 2 is a side elevation; and Fig. 3 is a plan view of a section of one side of a car, as shown in Fig. l, and having my improvements attached thereto.

A is the floor, and B the stanchions or open frame-work, the stanchions being arranged in pairs about six inches apart and with about three feet of space from center to center of each pair of stanchions, the stanchions being intended to serve as guides to the ends of the movable staltbars.

C is the roof, and D D the doors ofthe car.

In this form of car, and in nearly all forms of stock-cars in which provision is made for separating the animals by stalls or compartments, one or more sets of such stall-divisions occur on the door or doors of the car, and the guides, feed-racks, wateringtroughs, &c., beA ing necessarily attached to the door, project so far into the ear that it is necessary to modify to some extent -the construction of the means for opening and closing the doors.

In the ordinary car, with nothing attached to the inner surfaces of the doors, the custom is to merely slide the doors to one side upon tracks attached to the sides of the ear. In this form of car the doors necessarily project outward beyond the general surface of the car, which under some circumstances is an objectionable feature, rendering it necessary to provide some means for the prevention of the entrance of snow and rain at the sides, as the doors thus operated cannot be closed tightly; whereas with the door shutting` into a casing, like an ordinary door, as in the form of door shown in the drawings, they can be made to rest against stops which will make them easily water and snow proof.

Another disadvantage of the sliding door often met with in freight-earsis the fact that the jolting of the ear in transit frequently displaces pieces of the freight,and causes them to crowd against the doors and render it very difficult to slide them sidewise. With my form of doors, however, which move outward bodily before they are moved sidewise, all such difficulties are avoided, as, if the freight becomes pressed down against the doors, the outward movement atr once relieves this pressure.

The extent of the outward movement is immaterial. In ordinary freight-ears it need not necessarily exceed two or three inches, while in the form of car illustrated in the drawings, and

in numbers of other cases of stock-cars simi` larly constructed with feedracks, wateringtroughs, stall-bars, guides, Src., attached to the doors, it is necessary to throw the doors out-Ward far enough to cause these attachments to clear the frame of the car when the doors are moved sidewise. In the drawings, each of the doors D D will be provided with one or more sets of guides, G G, similar to the stanchiens B, except that, unlike the stanchions, they have but one function-viz., to serve as guides to the ends of the stall-bars which come opposite the doors whereas the stanchionsB lhave the double function `of serving as a portion of the frame of the car, and also as guides for the stall-bars.

H H represent the folding feed-racks; H2 H2, the watering-troughs between each pair of the stanchions B and guides G G, and Hu1 and H5 the pipes through which the water is supplied to the troughs.

The stall-bars are shown in Fig. l and let- IOO tered K and K2, K2 representing the stall bars opposite the doors,and l the stallbars in one end ol the ear. The stall-bars K are shown in their lowered position, while the stall-bars K2 opposite the doors are shown in their elevated position.

l l" represent the chains by which the stall-bars li are operated. The mechanism by which thc stall-bars are raised and lowered forms no part ol this invention. rl`hcy may be conveniently operated by the mechanism shown and described in my above-mentioned Letters latent, or by the mechanism shown and described in my application for Letters Patent filed June 5, 1885. The lower ends of these chains K 1i will be arranged to be detached from the car and lifted out of the guides G G when the doors are to be opened. In Fig. 1 the chain li and its lower pulley, IQ", arc shown detached from thc `l'loor of the car and turned ell" to one side.

In practice it will bc necessary, when the door is to be opened, to disconnect the pulley Iii from the outside, (it of course being understood that the stall-bars K2 will iirst have to be clevaterh) and then after the door is opened the chain and its pulley K5 will hang down loosely in `front ofthe center of the doorway.

Before the cattle are driven into the car, or before they are removed therefron'nthe hanging chain will be looped up beneath the roof ofthe car or disposed of in some suitable simi` lar manner. Then after the cattle are all in position in the car, the chains K K will be dropped down between the guides G G, and the pulley If hooked into a staple, K8, between the lower ends of the guides, or in the iloor of the car before the Stallbars K2 are run down.

rlhe framework or sides of stoclecars arc formed of open slats, so that it will be an easy matter for the operator to reach in between the slats and manipulate the chains K K4 and pulley IC', above described.

The mechanism employed to move the doors outward consists ot'two small rods, a a, hinged by their lower ends to the inner surfaces of the doors near their upper corners. These rods are connected at their upper ends to two sliding bars, c* c", the latter provided with hooked upper ends adapted to enclasp horizontal tracks L L, attached to the sides of the ear above the doorways. It will be readily understood that if the rods e c be turned upward at right angles to the door the latter will be moved outward and upward, as shown in Fig. I, on the left-hand side. I have shown a windlass, M, provided with a ratchetwheel, b', adapted to be held by a pawl, b2, the windlass being` journaled in any suitable manner on the outside of the door, centrally, about on a line even with or a little below the lower ends ofthe rods c a.

Small chains or cables d l lead from this windlass M in opposite directions, and pass through the door just below thc rods a e and thence around small pulleys-wl secured in brackets e on the inner surfaces ol.' the doors, and thence up to the upper ends of the rods a a, to which they are attached. The chains or cables d d will be attached to the drum or windlass M on opposite sides, so that as the drinn is revolved in one direction. both parts ol' the chain will be wound upon it, and will be unwound therefrom when the drums are revolved in opposite directions. By this means if the drums be revolvcdin one direction the cables d d will be wound upon them and draw the rods c t upward and move the doors outward and upward, as shown in Fig. ll. at the left-hand side.

The lower edges of the doors are provided with points or studs c c, which are adapted to iit into sockets c* e, l'ormed for them in the outer edges of the iloor ot' the car. Usually these sockets consist of or will be formed by straps attached to the edges ol' the iloor A of the car and opening down through the door, so that any snow or water that may flow down into them will not remain in theml and become frozen in cold weather.

I claiml.. In a stock or freight car, doors andY horizontal tracks attached to the car above the doorways, in combination with sliding bars which embrace said tracks and slide thereon, and suspension-rods pivote/d to said sliding bars at their upper ends, and to the inner sides of the doors at their lower ends, substantially as set forth, whereby the doors may be swung bodily outward and then be moved parallel with the sides of the car.

2. In a stock or freight car, doors, horizontal tracks attached to the car above thc doorways, sliding` bars which embrace said tracks and slide thereon, and suspensionrods pivoted to said sliding bars at their upper ends and to the inner sides of the doors at their lower ends, in combination with a windlass mounted on the exterior of each door, and cables which pass through the door and are attached at one end to thcwindlass and at the other end to the upper parts of said suspension-rods, substantially as set forth.

3. rlhe combination, with a stock or freight ear, of horizontal tracks L L. attached to said car above its doorways, sockets c e in the i'loor of said car opposite its doorways, doors D l), having studs e e tting into said sockets when said doors are closed, jointed suspension-rods a a connecting said doors with said track, windlass M', and chains or cables d d, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereofl havchereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY CLINTON HICKS.

NVitnesses:

C. N. Woonwann, War. GRAHAM.

IIO 

